Aviation industry, which can be referred to as the most international one among all industries, developed under the protection of governments during the infant era; however, the aviation industry of 21st century has been transforming to boost economic...
Aviation industry, which can be referred to as the most international one among all industries, developed under the protection of governments during the infant era; however, the aviation industry of 21st century has been transforming to boost economic growth by liberalization. By analyzing the four single aviation markets (EU single aviation market, Australia-New Zealand single aviation market, ASEAN single aviation market, Arab single aviation market), where regional liberalization has been already completed or either are in the process of manifestation, one can demonstrate that single aviation market contributed to traffic growth and subsequently the overall economic growth by lowering market entry barrier and introducing competition. With respect to the advance of each single aviation market, when the market is discussed within a big picture such as political integration or economic integration, it is able to form markets systematically (EU single aviation market, ASEAN single aviation market); when open skies continue to augment for the need of the participant states, it is capable of naturally creating single aviation market (Australia-New Zealand single aviation market). On the other hand, when the level of competitive power in aviation industry among participant states is substantially different or when participant states anticipate that what they will lose is greater than what they will gain from the single aviation market, negotiation on the single aviation market makes little progress.(Arab single aviation market, ASEAN single aviation market)
Recognizing the need of single aviation market along with the need for bilateral open skies, Korea has been discussing Northeast Asian open skies consisting of Korea, China and Japan. Compared to other single aviation markets, Northeast Asian open skies is different from those of EU and ASEAN for the fact that its negotiation does neither contain any desire for political integration nor economic integration. Rather, Australia-New Zealand single aviation market, which was created by progressive liberalization for market access, should be more carefully analyzed in comparison with Northeast Asian open skies. While Korea, China and Japan commonly understand the potentiality of the Northeast Asian single aviation market consisting of the three aviation powers, there has been no substantial progress since the inception of the negotiation in 2006 due to various obstacles including political, economical, and sociological issues. In order to benefit from Northeast Asian open skies from both short-term and long-term perspective, Korea should take into consideration the two separate approaches. First, Korea should focus on liberalizing market access to Korea-China routes and Korea-Japan routes by strengthening bilateral air talks. Second, Korea should promote progressive development of Northeast Asian open skies by leading to establish an organization on a government level, which is designed to concentrate on the subject. Also during the process of making the Northeast Asian open skies, which will be formed according to the principle of reciprocity among the three states, it is imperative that one be cautious about free-riding of other states.